Mazmur 36:11

36:11 Do not let arrogant men overtake me,

or let evil men make me homeless! ¹ 

Mazmur 72:6

72:6 He ²  will descend like rain on the mown grass, ³ 

like showers that drench ⁴  the earth. ⁵ 

Mazmur 74:20

74:20 Remember your covenant promises, ⁶ 

for the dark regions of the earth are full of places where violence rules. ⁷ 

Mazmur 78:43

78:43 when he performed his awesome deeds ⁸  in Egypt,

and his acts of judgment ⁹  in the region of Zoan.

Mazmur 85:11

85:11 Faithfulness grows from the ground,

and deliverance looks down from the sky. ¹⁰ 

Mazmur 94:17

94:17 If the Lord had not helped me,

I would have laid down in the silence of death. ¹¹ 

[36:11]  ¹ tn Heb “let not a foot of pride come to me, and let not the hand of the evil ones cause me to wander as a fugitive.”

[72:6]  ² tn That is, the king (see vv. 2, 4).

[72:6]  ³ tn The rare term zg refers to a sheep’s fleece in Deut 18:4 and Job 31:20, but to “mown” grass or crops here and in Amos 7:1.

[72:6]  ⁴ tc The form in the Hebrew text appears to be an otherwise unattested noun. Many prefer to emend the form to a verb from the root זָרַף (zaraf). BHS in textual note b on this verse suggests a Hiphil imperfect, third masculine plural יַזְרִיפוּ (yazrifu), while HALOT 283 s.v. *זרף prefers a Pilpel perfect, third masculine plural זִרְזְפוּ (zirzÿfu). The translation assumes the latter.

[72:6]  ⁵ sn The imagery of this verse compares the blessings produced by the king’s reign to fructifying rains that cause the crops to grow.

[74:20]  ⁶ tc Heb “look at the covenant.” The LXX reads “your covenant,” which seems to assume a second person pronominal suffix. The suffix may have been accidentally omitted by haplography. Note that the following word (כִּי) begins with kaf (כ).

[74:20]  ⁷ tn Heb “for the dark places of the earth are full of dwelling places of violence.” The “dark regions” are probably the lands where the people have been exiled (see C. A. Briggs and E. G. Briggs, Psalms [ICC], 2:157). In some contexts “dark regions” refers to Sheol (Ps 88:6) or to hiding places likened to Sheol (Ps 143:3; Lam 3:6).

[78:43]  ⁸ tn Or “signs” (see Ps 65:8).

[78:43]  ⁹ tn Or “portents, omens” (see Ps 71:7). The Egyptian plagues are referred to here (see vv. 44-51).

[85:11]  ¹⁰ sn The psalmist already sees undeniable signs of God’s faithfulness and expects deliverance to arrive soon.

[94:17]  ¹¹ tn Heb “If the Lord [were] not my help, quickly my life would have lain down in silence.” The psalmist, perhaps speaking as the nation’s representative, recalls God’s past intervention. For other examples of conditional sentences with the term לוּלֵי (luley, “if not”) in the protasis and a perfect verbal form in the apodosis, see Pss 119:92 and 124:2-5.